Κυριακή, 26 Μαΐου 2013

Steve McQueen: KING OF COOL

Londoners are truly lucky to be hosting one of the hottest current exhibitions at the ATLAS Gallery in 49 Dorset Street untill 27 October 2012 . What can we say about one of the most sought after photographers of the 50’s & 60’s spending 3 weeks with the ‘King of Cool’? He was the man in every woman’s fantasy and as a result, 40 rolls of film were produced. The photographer is none other then John Dominis and his subject is every woman's ideal man… Steve McQueen.

John Dominis, now 91 has always lived the kind of life that makes us want to sit down and hear him speak indefinitely about his experiences. Working as a freelance photographer for LIFE magazine, he covered John Kennedy's ‘I am a Berliner’ speech, Woodstock, the Vietnam war, Nixon’s trip to China, six Olympic games, the celebration of Buddha’s 2500th birthday and has photographed renowned entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Robert Redford, John Wayne and many more. Now living in New York City, he has allowed us to share one of his ‘career-favorite assignments’. Being the shadow of the 33 year old in his Palm Springs home known for his strong passion for speed, he is also known for his expert ability to handle a gun and an even greater ability in making women drop on their knees, definitely wasn’t dull.

Steve McQueen was the sexiest and most sought after rebel in Hollywood. When this collaboration started he was on the brink of superstardom, already popular from his big-screen break out as one of the Magnificent Seven he was a couple of months away from the international acclaim release of ‘The Great Escape’. Having been abandoned as a child and spending most of his youth in a reform school for juvenile delinquents there was always a dark fascination about his private life leading to his bad boy image. Yes he was the bad boy that every woman wanted to bring home and tame and all men wanted to drink his cool aid.

Being able to capture Wyatt Earp, the greatest Western character of all time, his excitement about this character at the time was the opportunity for an on screen ‘pistols at dawn’ showdown. Together with his then wife Neile Adams, they allowed Dominis to enter their lives in a very open way. No restrictions or closed doors - then it was all about the rawness of the legendary rebel having nothing to hide. This is what made him absolutely and totally desirable. His image was a man with no inhibitions that did not care about how he is perceived and that itself made him so much more manly.

Undoubtedly Steve McQueen was and is a man like no other. His genuine charisma has been captured on camera and has made us fall in love with him all over again. The Coolness of this King has left us wanting more.

Jaguar’s epic 3.4 liter, DOHC inline-six powered D-Types were originally built for competitive racing– with a few also falling into the hands of privileged private owners. But by 1958, the D-Type had become obsolete– new racing mandates now called for smaller 3.0-liter engines, which would hurt the D-Type’s performance on the track. Ferrari had proven themselves to be the masters of small-displacement, high-performance racing, particularly with their iconic Testa Rossa that could handily eat the 3.0 liter D-type’s lunch. Jaguar found itself needing to unload 25 of the 3.4 liter D-Types.

Jaguar execs decided to convert the old D-Types to street legal sports cars and sell them to the public as limited-edition GTs. The Jaguar was subjected to a series of street-legal retrofits, including– a full-width windshield, and a bare-bones top and luggage rack added to the rear deck replaced the original racing dorsal fin. Removable fixed-pane side curtains were then mounted to the Jaguar’s doors. A vestigial exhaust system was devised by engineers– complete with a guard to prevent laymen from burning themselves on the Jag’s exposed, aggressive sidepipes. The roadster’s lighting was converted to meet street specs, two nicely-appointed seats were added, a passenger side door and sleek bumpers were tacked-on, and they were ready to roll. Tragically, 9 of the 25 XK-SS D-Types were destroyed by a fire at the Jaguar factory in 1957, making the remaining 16 all the more special.

One of these iconic roadsters would find its way into the hands of Steve McQueen– who enjoyed an on-and-off love affair with this special Jaguar up until the very end.

Perhaps no other car is more strongly identified with Steve McQueen, aside from the iconicHighland Green Mustang GT from the epic Bullitt, than his 1957 Jaguar D-type XK-SS. He had his buddy Von Dutch custom craft a locking glovebox for the Jag to keep those Persols from flying out when he punched the gas. via

Steve McQueen first saw his Jaguar XK-SS parked on a studio lot on Sunset Boulevard, back when it originally belonged to Bill Leyden (a local LA radio/television personality). McQueen bought the Jag from him for $5,000 in 1958– though some historians claim the purchase price was $4,000. Wife Neile recalled, “I know exactly how much we paid for it– I signed the check.” Once, McQueen was pulled over for speeding with Neile, 6 months pregnant at the time, sitting beside him. He lied and told the cop that she was in labor. They got an official police escort to the hospital, where nurses were waiting to rush Neile in. After the police left, McQueen told the staff that it was just ‘false labor’, and off they went. He was later quoted as saying, “Neile was pissed. She didn’t speak to me for the rest of the day. But, by God, it worked. I didn’t get the ticket!”

Steve McQueen tinkering with his ’57 Jaguar XK-SS on the set of ’Wanted: Dead or Alive.’ McQueen’s Jag was originally painted white with a red interior– he would repaint the XK-SS proper British Racing Green, and had SoCal drag racer/hot-rodder/upholsterer Tony Nancy redo the entire interior in black leather.

Under the hood of the Jaguar XK-SS– 3.4-liter, double-overhead-cam inline six-cylinder engine, topped of with a six-pack of side-draft Weber carburetors. This same engine powered the original XK-120, and all Jaguars made through the 1950s & 1960s. This little dry-sump honey could easily produce 250-275 horsepower– giving this cat an impressive power-to-weight ratio of 1 hp per 8 lbs, and 0-60 mph in 5 seconds, which was insane for a street car back in those days. via